JJ Abrams has his new crew for his vision of Star Trek. According to StarTrek.com and The Hollywood Reporter Karl Urban has signed a deal to play Dr. Leonard McCoy. TrekMovie.com first reported that the 35 year-old Kiwi actor was up for an unnamed part two weeks ago, and last week we reported Urban was ‘in talks’ for McCoy but they were working out details related to his busy schedule. Urban was the last recast member of the Original Series crew to sign on, although there are still other roles (such as Pike) to be cast. For a complete current cast list, check out our Star Trek (2008) CAST page. For more on Urban see the original story and follow-up story.

I’m 100% behind everything that has come out so far and the choices for casting. I’m very excited to see our “old friends” again on the big screen and thankful to the talented team who are bringing them back from the void for us.

In many ways. i think this rates up there with a few other major turning points in Trek history…
The jump to the big-screen with TMP
The new take with TNG
and ST:2008

They each changed everything and I think this is the next chapter. Very exciting.

[…] Today, Karl Urban joined the cast as Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy and Chris Pine signed on to play the much debated role of Captain Kirk. They join Zachary Quinto, Heroes’ Sylar, as Mr. Spock; John Cho, Harold from Harold and Kumar and the guy who ID’d Stifler’s mom as a MILF in American Pie, as Sulu; Zoe Saldana of … okay she’s been in a lot, but I don’t remember her, as Uhura; Anton Yelchin, again don’t know him, as Pavel Chekov; and my favorite casting choice thus far Simon Pegg, Shaun of Shaun of the Dead, Nick Angel from Hot Fuzz, and The Editor from the Doctor Who episode The Long Game, as Montgomery Scott. Eric Bana will also be joining the cast as a villain named Nero (a Romulan, maybe? I’m hoping so). Also, Leonard Nimoy is confirmed as playing an older version of Spock and everyone is being coy about Shatner’s involvement. […]

I’m cool with everyone except this one. I can see it now, Kirk seeking out the elder McCoy’s advice….with shirts off, biceps bulging, sweat breaking out all over there bodies as they work out, buddy buddy, in the ship’s gym….

If there is anything remotely resembling that type of character interaction, the movie damn well better take place in an alternate timeline. That’s the only way I’ll buy into it.

Wonder if they’re determined to keep McCoy as a Southerner. Both Southern and Aussie came from Irish. Wouldn’t have to change the name if they left the accent.
What the hell. I don’t really want a total immitation of TOS. Just a new slant on an old classic.
Lookin’ good so far.

I was just watching the interviews on the DVD extras of Transformonuts and I really hope they don’t throw certain things to the wind like they did in that movie. Hearing TPTB behind that movie rationalize why certain creative decisions were made scares the sh*t out of me when it comes to the reboot/sequel/prequel of this franchise.

Now, I’m only one dude with a keyboard – out of, probably, 25 folks on here with keyboards. And although I’m certain we are not a representative sample of all the people who might see this movie, we are nevertheless here, frequently posting about this near and dear subject matter called Star Trek. Now, I’m not trying to tell the producers, writers or directors how to do their job. I would not presume to debate say someone like Nimoy on what Star Trek is. I can only express my feelings about this project. Be that venting, whining or whatever else it may be coined.

So far, half the casting seems spot on and half seems off. Hence, I write this in this particular thread because this dude seems wrong for Bones. His face sort of reminds me of Kelly, but he looks like he could wrestle an alligator and win in some clips. I don’t know where they are going with the project, but hope to heck it has some semblance to the heart of TOS.

If the reported plot points are correct, and this movie involves a convoluted Braga-esque story, I sure hope they can execute it with sufficient skill to avoid it being a huge cluster [ ]. Who knows, Fate might ultimately vindicate Braga by having this new endeavor (which makes his sci-fi concepts sound conservative by comparison) fail to launch as its progenitor did in 1969.

Mr Abrams must have something sick up his sleeve which will either be absolutely genius or go down in flamimg chunks of infamy. This definitely won’t be DeForest’s McCoy. Urban may look like a Xena reject, but think about the potential chemistry of this entire ensemble and you will have a glimpse of what the overall casting choices are trying to achieve.
Kelley’s Bones used to rip on Nimoy’s Spock and that was classic, but now we can have the hilarious Pegg’s Scotty bagging on both Urban and Quinto. Pine and Quinto had better brush up on their comic timing! With these new personas, this may be a Star Trek where everybody gets to shine. I hope The new Sulu, Chekhov and Uhura hang just as tough as the Big Three, with the new hipster Scotty equally at home with either trio. The people making this movie know they have to avoid dead serious or risk veering dangerously close to unintentionally funny.

Actually the guys not that muscular, don’t know what kind of shape many of those saying how buff he is are in but he’s kind of smooth and undeveloped in the muscle department and my forarms are bigger than his biceps. He’s a regular athleticly built guy.

#47 – I hear you. You pretty much summed up my feelings on it. I’m not sure about Urban; he’s chameleon like, different from role to role, but I don’t see a DeForest Kelley there, but that may be very unlikely to impossible to reproduce. Of the issues of suspension of disbelief ihave brought up before, getting people to accept these actors as these characters may be the hardest of all.
But, there’s really not much we can do. Roberto Orci has been gracious enough to listen to our rantings and perhaps absorb some of our input. That is more than we have had before, and it is cool. But ultimately, they are going to do what they are going to do, and we’ll like it, or not, or probably a little of both.

An inspired choice! Karl Urban is a great actor that should bring an unexpected machismo to the role of Dr. McCoy! I have always enjoyed DeForrest Kelly’s Dr. McCoy but I always found him somewhat lacking in the area of physical prowess. Urban should more than make up for that! We shall see indeed!! I can’t wait!!

I don’t know about this, can Urban be as uptight and as cranky and funny and cynical as was DeForest Kelly? They should be casting personalities as well as likenesses, but oh well anyone at Paramount wouldn’t give a rats patoot what I think. I dunno about all this, all there is today is remakes and sequels and not an original or new idea among them! I’m afraid that this new cast will overshadow the old in the eyes and minds of this new generation, only because the characters look hotter and there’s more action and higher production values. Personally for me why I’ve loved Star Trek so much because of the stories the philosphy and the personalities, not the shallowness we now get on TV and in music and news and in the movies. I dunno I could be just talking out of my patoot!

#58. If you or anyone could come up with a new/original idea, well Laddie, that’s the ticket to fame and fortune. Everything is a variation of old tried and true formulas. Star Trek is as Roddenberry has said basically a Western in Space, “Wagon Train to the Stars” as he put it.
Everything old is new again

There are original ideas out there, but studio execs only want what has sold before, all they see us as is profit. There are a ton of original ideas in independent films but you’d never see them in mainstream cinemas, because they are artistic, instead of being loud, expensive and derivative!

Awesome… but i have something for you guys to consider, ok the guy is buffed up, McCoy wasnt that small in TOS it was only in the movies that he became skin and bone, so logically he’ll be biggish when he was younger?

its been a great few weeks for casting and i have been literally on the edge of my seat, even come close to splitting up with my girlfriend over this site(… is that bad?) and i would just like to thank Anthony for his brilliant work… this will forever remain my favourite Trek site!

Finally, all we need is Kirks Parents, Pike and a federation captain. My suggestions:

Kirks dad: Ray Loitta – would have been first for pike, but too old.
Kirks mum: Sally Field
Pike: Tom Cruise or Josh Holloway?
Captain: Greg Grunburg LOL or a woman???

I know many of us are skeptical about some of the casting choices, but I can’t help but feel JJ & Paramount especially wouldn’t risk $160 million on a bad cast. And don’t forget: the success of the first one depends on whether any sequels will be made. I, personally, was extremely unhappy with the casting on “Fantastic Four” & yet the actors did a “fantastic” (pun intended) job. I was especially leary about Jessica Alba because she was so obviously hispanic in Dark Angel, but I thought she did the best job of all. So I’m hoping even though these aren’t the people we necessarily wanted to see in these roles, they will all do a marvelous job.

Man, like a lot of folk, I’d welcome a sequel to the excellent ‘Galaxy Quest’…I just didn’t want this particular Movie to be it… Your mock-up makes me wonder if it was such a good idea for this latest batch of film-makers to use these particular well-loved ( by quite a few anyway ) characters for their Star Trek Movie in the first place…

I mean, if they seem to think that instead of coming up with their OWN, all-new, never-before-seen ‘Star Trek’ characters, designs, and settings for their franchise ‘reboot’, but have decided that they should use an already well-established and much-loved show as the way to success, then why disregard so much of what made that show so appealing in the first place to a fervent fanbase?…

The original show’s overall settings and various designs are as integral to the classic show’s success as the actual characters are, in my view, since the original creators got so much right for it’s ‘look’ in the first place…but judging by the many recent indications by sources involved, this particular aspect of the TOS-era is being disregarded, and is going to be hit hard with the ‘reimagining’ stick… If seeing everything totally new in a ‘Star Trek’ Movie is such a good thing, as some have suggested, then rather than being against change in general, I’d have much rathered that instead of alienating quite a lot of the original’s fanbase, that those involved in this project had gone FURTHER with any revisualizing urges they had, and just created their own, fresh ‘Star Trek’ generation altogether, giving them carte blanche to do what they liked…and not just pinched the characacters from the TOS-era at all…unless they chose to also honour MORE of the source material that the characters are so closely associated with…which if given a big budget makeover would STILL look spectacularly epic to new audiences that didn’t have any much knowledge of the Trek franchise one way or another… T

Sally Field is a great choice as is Greg Grunberg. If Tom Hanks is in it, I think he should play an alien in makeup. Someone mentioned Pine’s own dad, Robert, to play Kirk’s father & I think that’s inspired.

As I’ve said before, I wish everyone would quit photshopping because it makes them look gay–not that there’s anything wrong with that. But it’s mainly the sixties hairstyles that doesn’t really do it for me. Most of the guys slated for the roles have a modern short, easily manageable hair-style & I think that is in compliance with a military of not only today but in the future as well. Zoe’s ‘do should change like young women’s often do & I like her simple pulled-back-in-a-ponytail look that’s she’s had in most of her films

…’In the books Final Frontier and Best Destiny, both written by Diane Carey, it was stated that Captain April was born in Coventry, UK. In addition, it was stated that James Kirk’s father, George Kirk, was the Tactical officer of the Enterprise during April’s captaincy.

In the book Crisis on Vulcan, written by Brad and Barbara Strickland, Christopher Pike is April’s First Officer.’… Ripped from:

I personally think books should be used as background canon, would be really cool if the ‘federation captain’ was Robert April, then we could see Pike as his first officer just before he is promoted maybe to command the Enterprise?… George Kirk could also have some part to play with this too, as he was Aprils Tactical officer… does sound like some cool background to me! soo….

If they do screw with the E design, it’ll be a very obvious sign of, a) a reboot or b) yet another f’d up attempt to re-create things in their own image, ala B&B, which would suck.
Urban: I approve. And I’m getting used to Pegg. BUT, giving him dark hair is gonna be a stretch. And if they DON’T, again, reboot.

Jay, all those articles are exactly the same. I posted in another thread that they look like they are just parroting what Herc said in aicn and then what got repeated here. One stand out point is that the article states that Nimoy is making a cameo which he has said is not true, he has a pivotal part. Somebody picked up the ball thinking it was live, but it was only an incomplete pass. Dead ball.

I think I AM THX-1138 is right. Those articles look like they are copying each other (they are lazy idiots for doing that and not verifying anything). Good thing we have Anthony, a man of integrity, to verify the facts.

I don’t think you can have big name actors playing Kirk’s parents. You have to go with relative unknowns like the rest of the cast. Otherwise it just jolts you out of the movie…like when Ted Danson popped up in Saving Private Ryan.

Yeah, I think Petersen would work, but could be schedule & cost prohibitive.

I think Tom Hanks could do an accent…on the other hand, nothing about Robert April is really canon — the animated series or novels don’t count.
Robert April was just a name Roddenberry used in one of the original scripts, Capain of the Yorktown I believe…then he was transformed into the first commanding officer of the 1701.

Karl Urban is portraying Woodrow Call in a TV western called “Commanche Moon.” If you recall, this is the “younger” version of the character from “Lonesome Dove” played by Tommy Lee Jones & in sequels by John Voight & James Garner. I’d say he would have to do a passable southern accent to play this character & perhaps that’s what what clinched the deal for Abrams.

THEY MUST MAKE THIS MOVIE ABOUT ADVENTURE 1ST AND FORMOST. THAT’S WHAT WAS EXCITING ABOUT STAR TREK, HENCE THE NAME TREK. IF THEY GO ACTION WITH THIS IT WILL BOMB JUST LIKE THE LAST TREK MOVIE. PEOPLE ARE GONNA WANT TO SEE STRANGE NEW WORLDS NEW LIFE AND NEW CIVILIZATION! IF NOT -THEN I WON’T EVEN GO SEE IT CAUSE I’M STILL HAPPY WITH THE ORIGINAL CAST AND EPISODES.

He had a good figure before he became so overly slim post-TOS, and was totally type-cast as the heavy in Western movies in the 50’s and 60’s – until Roddenberry had a very different take on him (and possibly saw his appearance as doctor in the Bonanza episode “The Decision” of 1962).

So..the more I watch Urban stuff on youtube, the more I can see him as McCoy. Thumbs up and I hope for the best!

Speaking of McCoy… I just downloaded Operation Annihiliate on Itunes… to the best of my knowledge this episode has not aired yet so I recommend everyone running to Itunes right now before they yank it.

There are some very very cool shots in this one including an actual denovan ship flying into the sun… a shot of the E planting satellites in orbit and a shot of the satellites powering up to for the burst of lethal light rays…

Realists will call Shatner and Nimoy’s appearance a cameo.
The studio will say they’re “reprising their classic roles” or playing a “pivitol role” or “Golly, who ate all the hot buttered rolls? Must be Shatner. Look at that Ass!”

Seems to be a lot of talk about accents and so forth, so thought I’d chime in – first of all, any actor worth anything should be able to do all sorts of accents.

Secondly, regarding McCoy needing a southern drawl – it seems to me I remember that more often than not, McCoy spoke without any accent. It was only when he was drunk or under the influence of spores (!) or aged prematurely (!) that his good ‘ol boy came out. I lived in Atlanta for eight years and have heard plenty of Georgia accents – McCoy barely had one if at all.

De Kelley was born in Atlanta, but most traces of an accent were gone when he hit hollywood. I had the pleasure of meeting him and interviewing him, and even then, at an advanced age, he didn’t really have one.

Also, there seems to be this view of him as a “simple country doctor” – also not the way I picture him. I viewed him as a passionate doctor certainly, a humanist most of all…but a “country doctor” has connotations of old fashioned-ness and a narrowness of mind, that I don’t think the character really had. He may have called himself a “simple country doctor” once – (did he?) – but he never seemed like one to me.

Lastly, (…steps up on soap box…) been reading all the posts about all of the actors cast in the roles we’ve come to know and love and I think people are trying way to hard to shoehorn them into the actors (Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, etc) rather than how well they fit the roles. Yeah, they should have more than a passing resemblance to the previous actors for continuity’s sake, but they don’t have to have the perfect look, the perfect eyebrows, the perfect build – they don’t have to be clones, for god’s sake.

Look at all of the actors that have played James Bond or Batman over the years. Do they share certain characteristics? Yes. Do they look exactly alike? No. Sometimes (like Daniel Craig) they look completely different, but we accepted them in the roles, nonetheless.

I think that overall, we should give JJ and his team, and the actors some slack. I’m sure that they will deliver up something that is resoundingly Star Trek and familiar enough in tone, texture and look to make us all happy (except for the die hards…who will never be happy with anything). But we shouldn’t hold their feet to the fire over every detail. This isn’t 1966 and it SHOULDN’T look and feel like it.

We should be thrilled that someone who actually CARES about Star Trek is at the helm and will craft us a story and new iterations of characters that we love.

The biggest challenge for Karl Urban, IMO, will be to play down his physicality.

He’s a considerably more muscular and more heroic-looking man than Chris Pine, and a McCoy who looks like he could make Kirk his bitch, if he wanted to, would significantly change the original dynamic between those characters.

Funny Karl played heavys a lot before this role,and so did Deforest Kelley. Matter of fact I remember him being in”O.K. Carrol”of the 50’s with Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp and Kirk Douglas as Doc Holiday. And he played a doctor(of all things) in”The Men”1950/1,Brando and Jack Webb. He didn’t die in that one.

SD, thanks for the pics of the young De Kelley. I’m more and more conviced Urban will do great. I actually went on to re-watch LOTR: the return of the King, and in a scene where they are at camp, close to the mountains where the cursed dead soldiers are hidden, Urban (as Eomer) talks with … (I think it was Gimli, but can’t really recall…). At one point, he does a double-take as though he just wanted to give another look at the person in front of him to accentuate his words, well… it just the same kind of look/gesture Kelley would have made. That scene alone made me say: “Yep, he CAN do it”.

130. Beg to differ with you on McCoy’s accent. I’m a native Atlantan–a rarity these days, but true, & McCoy definetly had a drawl. It was subtle, I’ll give you that, but it was there. Most Southerners would say he didn’t because it’s mild, but most people around here don’t really think I have one either, but I know others that say I sound like Sam Elliott. Now, I never met Kelley & being an actor I’m sure he lost a good bit of it, and more likely, worked at loosing it. But I’m sure that’s what got him cast in so many Westerns. Connor Trineer did a fantastic southern accent on Enterprise & I understand he’s from Washington state. His was subtle while others like Kyra Sedgewick on The Closer really emphasize a strong one & subtle, to me anyway, always is more believable. Holly Hunter is probably the best Southerner to disguise her accent. That’s her real accent on Saving Grace but in most of her other films, there’s no trace of one. I hope Abrams doesn’t let Urban do one that’s over the top. Now If he can only get him to stop scowling so much.

— Holly Hunter is probably the best Southerner to disguise her accent. —

I’m trying, and I can’t imagine her without her Southern accent!

Deforest Kelley normally had a mild drawl when he played Bones, which was fine. But, I never understood why Bones’ accent would get so over-the-top when he’d get old or sick. In these odd times, Kelley’s accent did NOT seem authentic.

— I hope Abrams doesn’t let Urban do one that’s over the top. Now If he can only get him to stop scowling so much. —

The scowling could work as long as it comes across as a concerned, worried scowl rather than a “I’m gonna kick your ass in a minute, bro” scowl.

If he’s to be anything like the TOS original, Bones has to be congenitally anxious. He’s the prototypical worrier always wanting to play things more cautiously than the adventuresome, ballsy Kirk.

And, again, Bones cannot appear like he could pin Kirk for an easy three count, if the mood should happen to strike him.

I’m loth to bring up the issue of height, but, in this case, I’m having a hard time getting around it: according to IMDB.com, Urban is half an inch taller than Pine, and Urban appears significantly more muscular and masculine than the slim, artsy-looking Pine.

I’m not saying that it’s an impossible obstacle, but it seems to me that Urban now has the challenge of off-setting his physical appearance. And, conversely, Pine now has the challenge of getting into shape and growing his balls.

I dunno…maybe put Urban on a vegetarian diet and a brief stint as a nurse’s aid, and get Pine into the gym and a few days of boot camp.

I understand that it’s supposed to be “acting,” but some things are harder to fake than others, especially without experience. Again, I’m not wanting to sound pessimistic, just calling attention to what would seem to be crucial details.

Wasn’t sure which to post this in but it seems like the most recent topic with casting. I was just on startrek.com and they have a poll for “Christopher Pike”. Really not into there choices, some of which are obviously joke choices but it got me to thinking about actors I liked from my shows.

I didn’t have anyone particular in mind but I got to thinking Ben Browder might be a good choice. Liked him on farscape (and all his trek references) and as leader of SG1.

I would rather watch a Star Trek movie based on Counselor Troy’s mother trying to score a date. Do you really think that having Nimoy play an older Spock (which will probably be a 5 minute scene) will entice the die hards to watch this movie. Wrong! The teddy bears in the last true Star Wars film had better appeal. The cartoon version of Lord of the Rings, not Jackson’s, has 4 stars compaired to this idea.
Wow a secret plot, bull s*^t. Will the guy with the silver eyes have a staring role also? Was he not KIrk’s buddy before Spock? Kirks shirt torn, Spock who shouts at his panel and is not 2nd in command, Scotty in a yellow shirt, Dr. McCoy and Chekov not even on the ship. Fighting a giant gord in space piloted by an android midgit who is a giant on his planet. Sorry to ruin the secret plot.
Sorry, Gotta go the DS9 episode with the Feregi bartender and his idiot brother is on.

I’ll have you know the Ballz name goes back seven generations! Of course, when my great-grandfather came here from the old country, he shortened it to Ballz…….most people couldn’t quite get their head around the original surname, Ballzablazin!

Not to mention, my great-grandfather was a magician, so when he was introduced, they’d say, “here he is, the Great Ballzablazin!”

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